Within
the last century, Western science and physics have made
a startling discovery. We are part of the world we view.
The very process of our observation changes the things
we observe. As an example, an electron is an extremely
tiny item. It cannot be viewed without instrumentation,
and that apparatus dictates what the observer will see.
If you look at an electron in one way, it appears to
be a particle, a hard little ball that bounces around
in nice straight paths. When you view it another way,
an electron appears to be a wave form, with nothing
solid about it. It glows and wiggles all over the place.
An electron is an event more than a thing. And the observer
participates in that event by the very process of his
or her observation. There is no way to avoid this interaction.

Eastern
science has recognized this basic principle for a very
long time. The mind is a set of events, and the observer
participates in those events every time he or she looks
inward. Meditation is participatory observation. What
you are looking at responds to the process of looking.
What you are looking at is you, and what you see depends
on how you look. Thus the process of meditation is extremely
delicate, and the result depends absolutely on the state
of mind of the meditator. The following attitudes are
essential to success in practice. Most of them have
been presented before. But we bring them together again
here as a series of rules for application.

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1.
Don't expect anything. Just sit back and see
what happens. Treat the whole thing as an experiment.
Take an active interest in the test itself. But don't
get distracted by your expectations about results.
For that matter, don't be anxious for any result whatsoever.
Let the meditation move along at its own speed and
in its own direction. Let the meditation teach you
what it wants you to learn. Meditative awareness seeks
to see reality exactly as it is. Whether that corresponds
to our expectations or not, it requires a temporary
suspension of all our preconceptions and ideas. We
must store away our images, opinions and interpretations
someplace out of the way for the duration. Otherwise
we will stumble over them.

2.
Don't strain: Don't force anything or make
grand exaggerated efforts. Meditation is not aggressive.
There is no violent striving. Just let your effort
be relaxed and steady.

3.
Don't rush: There is no hurry, so take you
time. Settle yourself on a cushion and sit as though
you have a whole day. Anything really valuable takes
time to develop. Patience, patience, patience.

4.
Don't cling to anything and don't reject anything:
Let come what comes and accommodate yourself to that,
whatever it is. If good mental images arise, that
is fine. If bad mental images arise, that is fine,
too. Look on all of it as equal and make yourself
comfortable with whatever happens. Don't fight with
what you experience, just observe it all mindfully.

5.
Let go: Learn to flow with all the changes
that come up. Loosen up and relax.

6.
Accept everything that arises: Accept your
feelings, even the ones you wish you did not have.
Accept your experiences, even the ones you hate. Don't
condemn yourself for having human flaws and failings.
Learn to see all the phenomena in the mind as being
perfectly natural and understandable. Try to exercise
a disinterested acceptance at all times and with respect
to everything you experience.

7.
Be gentle with yourself: Be kind to yourself.
You may not be perfect, but you are all you've got
to work with. The process of becoming who you will
be begins first with the total acceptance of who you
are.

8.
Investigate yourself: Question everything.
Take nothing for granted. Don't believe anything because
it sounds wise and pious and some holy men said it.
See for yourself. That does not mean that you should
be cynical, impudent or irreverent. It means you should
be empirical. Subject all statements to the actual
test of your experience and let the results be your
guide to truth. Insight meditation evolves out of
an inner longing to wake up to what is real and to
gain liberating insight to the true structure of existence.
The entire practice hinges upon this desire to be
awake to the truth. Without it, the practice is superficial.

9.
View all problems as challenges: Look upon
negatives that arise as opportunities to learn and
to grow. Don't run from them, condemn yourself or
bear your burden in saintly silence. You have a problem?
Great. More grist for the mill. Rejoice, dive in and
investigate.

10.
Don't ponder: You don't need to figure everything
out. Discursive thinking won't free you from the trap.
In mediation, the mind is purified naturally by mindfulness,
by wordless bare attention. Habitual deliberation
is not necessary to eliminate those things that are
keeping you in bondage. All that is necessary is a
clear, non-conceptual perception of what they are
and how they work. That alone is sufficient to dissolve
them. Concepts and reasoning just get in the way.
Don't think. See.

11.
Don't dwell upon contrasts: Differences do
exist between people, but dwelling upon then is a
dangerous process. Unless carefully handled, it leads
directly to egotism. Ordinary human thinking is full
of greed, jealousy and pride. A man seeing another
man on the street may immediately think, "He is better
looking than I am." The instant result is envy or
shame. A girl seeing another girl may think, "I am
prettier than she is." The instant result is pride.
This sort of comparison is a mental habit, and it
leads directly to ill feeling of one sort or another:
greed, envy, pride, jealousy, hatred. It is an unskillful
mental state, but we do it all the time. We compare
our looks with others, our success, our accomplishments,
our wealth, possessions, or I.Q. and all these lead
to the same place--estrangement, barriers between
people, and ill feeling.

The
meditator's job is to cancel this unskillful habit by
examining it thoroughly, and then replacing it with
another. Rather than noticing the differences between
self and others, the meditator trains himself to notice
similarities. He centers his attention on those factors
that are universal to all life, things that will move
him closer to others. Thus his comparison, if any, leads
to feelings of kinship rather than feelings of estrangement.

Breathing
is a universal process. All vertebrates breathe in essentially
the same manner. All living things exchange gasses with
their environment in some way or other. This is one
of the reasons that breathing is chosen as the focus
of meditation. the meditator is advised to explore the
process of his own breathing as a vehicle for realizing
his own inherent connectedness with the rest of life.
This does not mean that we shut our eyes to all the
differences around us. Differences exist. It means simply
that we de-emphasize contrasts and emphasize the universal
factors. The recommended procedure is as follows:

When
the meditator perceives any sensory object, he is not
to dwell upon it in the ordinary egotistical way. He
should rather examine the very process of perception
itself. He should watch the feelings that arise and
the mental activities that follow. He should note the
changes that occur in his own consciousness as a result.
In watching all these phenomena, the meditator must
be aware of the universality of what he is seeing. That
initial perception will spark pleasant, unpleasant or
neutral feelings. That is a universal phenomenon. It
occurs in the mind of others just as it does in his,
and he should see that clearly. Following these feelings
various reactions may arise. He may feel greed, lust,
or jealousy. He may feel fear, worry, restlessness or
boredom. These reactions are universal. He simple notes
them and then generalizes. He should realize that these
reactions are normal human responses and can arise in
anybody.

The
practice of this style of comparison may feel forced
and artificial at first, but it is no less natural than
what we ordinarily do. It is merely unfamiliar. With
practice, this habit pattern replaces our normal habit
of egoistic comparing and feels far more natural in
the long run. We become very understanding people as
a result. we no longer get upset by the failings of
others. We progress toward harmony with all life.